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U.S. inflation bonds back in vogue

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 01:15:00 +0000

U.S. investors are back in the hunt for inflation protection for the first time in two years as rising housing costs - particularly for rent - suggest inflation may finally be waking from its post-recession slumber.

That's helping to drive cash into specialty funds that focus on Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS, arguably the weakest corner of the U.S. government bond market over the previous year or so, and helping TIPS significantly outperform regular Treasuries this year.

TIPS-focused funds are on pace to end seven consecutive quarters of outflows over which investors drained almost $38 billion from the sector. They've attracted $1.52 billion so far in the third period, marking the first quarterly inflows since the third quarter of 2012 and the largest since the first quarter of 2012.

Fund managers said the rising cost of housing - which accounts for as much as a third or more of various measures of inflation and is outpacing other consumer cost increases - has revived price pressure in the economy.

"TIPS have had a good tail wind this year. We have inflation as opposed to last year when we had disinflation," said Gemma Wright-Casparius, who oversees Vanguard's $26.3 billion inflation-protected securities fund, the biggest U.S. fund of its kind. The fund is up 6.5 percent this year.

Wright-Casparius also helps manage a short-dated TIPS fund whose assets have reached almost $10 billion since it launched nearly two years ago.

BETTING ON INFLATION

Inflation will likely creep higher in the coming months, according to a Reuters poll of economists. The Consumer Price Index has risen at 2 percent year-over-year for four straight months now and is forecast to accelerate to 2.2 percent later this year and into 2015, the data shows.

This outlook along with the possibility the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the middle of 2015 make TIPS a sensible choice, bond managers said. Also, the fact that Fed Chair Janet Yellen has signaled a willingness to let inflation run a bit hot relative to the central bank's target is also a positive, because the principal of a TIPS bond increases with inflation.

U.S. inflation bonds have produced a return of 6.35 percent since January, about 3 percentage points more than regular Treasuries, according to indexes compiled by Barclays.

In 2013, TIPS suffered their worst year since they were introduced in 1997, posting an annual loss of 8.61 percent compared with a decline of 2.63 percent for the broader Treasury market.

To be sure, it may be difficult for TIPS to sustain their recent gains.

"I think it's going to be much more challenging for them to generate returns as high as they have been in the past year or year to date," said Bill Irving, a Merrimack, New Hampshire, portfolio manager for Fidelity Investments, which manages $2 trillion.

That's because a sizeable portion of their gains this year are the result of an unexpected collapse in "real yields," or yields as measured against inflation. This proxy on the market's view on economic growth came after a stunning 2.9 percent drop in gross domestic product in the first three month of the year followed by a second-quarter 4.2 percent pop.

The real yield on 10-year TIPS, which move inversely with their price, tumbled from 80 basis points early in the year to 20 basis points recently. Shorter-dated real yields are actually negative, with inflation outstripping nominal yields.

A dramatic rally in bond markets worldwide, dragging U.S. yields back to their lowest levels in more than a year and yields on some European sovereign bonds to their lowest ever, further supported TIPS' revival. It is unclear, though, just how much more steam it has.

A variety of factors behind the rally include demand for low-risk sovereign bonds in face of conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and negative yields across the Atlantic where European Central Bank is expected soon to embark on new steps to avert Japanese-style deflation.

RISING RENTS

Ever since the housing market collapsed during the mortgage crisis seven years ago, more Americans have become renters, driving up demand for apartments and boosting rental costs.

A measure of that, known as owners'-equivalent rent, makes up 31 percent of the so-called core CPI. It was up 2.9 percent year-over-year in July, and a related measure of rent rose 3.2 percent, its fastest annual pace since March 2009. This trend could accelerate in the coming year, said Martin Hegarty, co-head of Blackrock's global inflation-linked $25.5 billion portfolio in New York, which has gained 6.22 percent this year.

"We are looking at shelter inflation in the next 12 to 18 months to touch the high 3 percent, maybe even 4 percent," Hegarty said. "That provides a relative stable base for everything else to build on top of."

A risk is that as rent and prices for food and other essentials rise higher, household spending more broadly could be pressured given the limited gains seen in the most widely tracked measures of wages.

But these fund managers say an underlying measure of wages, for private sector production and nonsupervisory employees, has been gaining ground at a faster clip, signaling consumers should be able to absorb higher costs.

Still, one signal from the TIPS market implies investors remain skeptical about wages and prices going much higher.

TIPS' breakeven rates, the differences between the yields on TIPS and nominal Treasuries and gauges of investors' inflation expectations, have fallen since the start of the year. The 10-year breakeven rate was 2.13 percent on Friday from 2.33 percent in early January.

Bond managers said the data will soon catch up their view and further declines in breakeven rates in the near term would offer investors cheaper levels to position for bigger profits in the long run.

"Ultimately, U.S. economic fundamentals will prevail and put upward pressure on rates but it could be some time before it takes hold," Fidelity's Irving said.

4 Simple Step to Create FeedBurner Feed for Blogger Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 00:02:00 +0000

For Blogger users FeedBurner is a Great service. It will give you a smarter and dynamic control over you blog’s RSS or ATOM feeds. FeedBurner makes it easy for visitors to get the feeds of your blog. Also it’s “Subscribe by Email” option is great tool to build a regular and loyal readership for you blog or website. If FeedBurner os properly utilized than it will help to generate more visits to your blog or website.

For creating a FeedBurner feed for blogger you need to follow simple step by step instruction which is given in the post.

Step-1: Find Blogger Default Feed URL

First you need to know about your blogs default feed URL. Default feed URL will look like this;

If you clicked on these links than you saw that they redirect you tohttp://feeds.feedburner.com/mcquarroblog; our FeedBurner feed link. As you see all you need to do to add /feeds/posts/default?alt=rss after your blog URL.

Step-2: Find Blogger Default Feed URL

Now login to FeedBurner Dashboard with you Google(Blogger) user ID and password. You will see a box right after ‘Burn a feed right this instant. Type your Blog or Feed Address here’. In that box put you blog’s default feed address and click 'Next' button.

Step-3: Set a Tittle and URL for blog's FeedBurner Feed

If there’s no error it will grab the Blog Title and FeedBurner Address like below. Change them to a unique one if you want and click Next. If all is well you will see a conformation page like this. In the next page entitled “Get More Gusto From Your Feed Traffic Statistics” Check the options you require for you feed and click 'Next'.

Step-4: Redirect Post Feeds to FeedBurner URL

That’s it you FeedBurner feed is created but still needed to be point from blogger.

Go to your blogger blog’s Dashboard > Settings > Other. Inside the Site Feed section; Paste your newly created FeedBurner feed URL (That you set in the 3rd step or find it in the FeedBurner dashboard)in the Post Feed Redirect URL box.

And Click 'Save Settings' and Check it by going to the FeedBurner URL. That’s it you have successfully created a FeedBurner feed for your blog.

These are the four steps of creating a FeedBurner feed for blogger. Do share this post and comment below to let us know if you are facing any problem.

How To Integrate Twitter Cards in Blogger Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 23:45:00 +0000

Twitter card is a great adding from twitter and it is warmly embraced by the webmasters. When you tweet a web page link; sometimes 140 characters are just not enough for one to really encourage the follows and other on twitter to click the link and read it. That where twitter card come in. It allow to show more information like; post title and URL, a summery or description, twitter handles of author and website and of course an image.

These are great features as it encourage more visits to you website or blog post from twitter. And blogger users should use this feature. Just posting in the blog is not enough; you should also make the sharing or tweeting of the post url easy for visitors or readers.

Other social media's use Open Graph while twitter use Twitter Card. It is simple; consists of a few Meta tags that are extremely easy to implement on any webpage. It's easy to add twitter card in blogger too. Now; there are several (seven to be exact) type of twitter cards but you will only need "Summary" or "Summary large image" any for blogger posts.

"Summary" Twitter Card for Blogger

For these you will need to go to template tab of you blogger dashboard and click "Edit HTML". Back up template and just after <head> paste the following code in the template;

<meta content='summary' name='twitter:card'/>
<meta content='@techinfoknow' name='twitter:site'/>
<meta content='@minhazmuntasir' name='twitter:creator'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.homepageUrl' name='twitter:domain'/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<meta name="twitter:url" expr:content='data:blog.url' />
<meta expr:content='data:blog.pageName' name='twitter:title'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.postImageUrl' name='twitter:image:src'/>
<b:else/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.homepageUrl' name='twitter:url'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.pageTitle' name='twitter:title'/>
<meta content='Image URL' name='twitter:image:src'/>
</b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.metaDescription'>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.metaDescription' name='twitter:description'/>
</b:if>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.canonicalUrl' name='twitter:url'/>

Now, in this code you need to;

Peplace Image URL with image like you like, perhaps your blog's logo.
Replace @techinfoknow with your blog's or website's twitter handle or if there in not a seperate twitter handle for your blog than put your twitter handle.
Replace @minhazmuntasir with your (author) twitter handle.
Make sure the images are at least 120x120px in size.
Make sure the Meta description of the post or blog is properly used.

Save the template. If you want a "Summary large image" twitter card then read below;

"Summary large image" Twitter Card for Blogger

For a "Summary large image" Twitter Card for Blogger the code is exactly same with only one change. Replace the first line of the above code with this one;

<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">

But, you will have to be carefull using the "Summary large image" twitter card for blogger. Make sure;

"Summary large image" twitter card for blogger the first image of the the post in large enough. Image size should be at least at least 280px in width and at least 150px in height but must be less than 1MB in size.
The tittle of the post should be concise and if not it will be automatically shortened at 70 characters when the links are tweeted.
Make sure the meta description of the post or blog is properly used.

Validate and Request Domain Approval for Twitter Card for Blogger

After you used those codes and saved the template, follow these listed instructions below;

Go to twitter card validator page and log in with you account.
Just select a card type (summary/summary large image); then go to the "Validate and Apply" tab.
Try out different URL from you blog. (Home page; Post page)
If you followed instrcutions correctly and it all information will show properly.
Click "Request Approval". In the opened section tittled "Request Domain Approval"; give proper information in the form and Click "Request Approval".

Thats it you are done; you have successfully implemented twitter card into you blogger blog.

Twitter Card In Case of a Multi-author Blogger Blog

When you start you blogging journey you do start alone but as the journey progresses you will find many. Most blogger blogs have multiple authors to post. And also many blogger blogs allow Guest Posting. But unfortunately if you use the above code(s) you will not be able to satisfy all the authors in your blogger blog. But there is a way. It is not pretty but effective in doing the job.
For this you need to find this line in the code code;

<meta content='@minhazmuntasir' name='twitter:creator'/>

and just delete and save. Or you could replace the entire code with this;

<meta content='summary' name='twitter:card'/>
<meta content='@techinfoknow' name='twitter:site'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.homepageUrl' name='twitter:domain'/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<meta name="twitter:url" expr:content='data:blog.url' />
<meta expr:content='data:blog.pageName' name='twitter:title'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.postImageUrl' name='twitter:image:src'/>
<b:else/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.homepageUrl' name='twitter:url'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.pageTitle' name='twitter:title'/>
<meta content='Image URL' name='twitter:image:src'/>
<meta content='@techinfoknow' name='twitter:creator'/>
</b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.metaDescription'>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.metaDescription' name='twitter:description'/>
</b:if>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.canonicalUrl' name='twitter:url'/>

Make the required replacement according to above instructions. As you see we did not deleted it; just paste it after <b:else/>. It's not finished. Now when you are finished writing your post and all thats require is to click "publish". Wait and In the top-left conner of the post editor click "HTML". After all the codes there paste this in the end;

<div style='display:none,visibility:none'>
<meta content='@edudotarticles' name='twitter:creator'/>
</div>

But Do not switch back to "Compose" part in the post editor, if you do the code will disappear. As you are done writing and editing; after pasting the code just hit "Publish". Now it will work.

Bear in mind every time you go back to edit a post in the "Compose" the code will disappear from the post editor and you will have insert it again. Do not encode this code. Now visit the published post and view the source code (keyboard shortcut:Crtl+U) and look for the code you inserted and also can use the card validator. If you find it then it's definitely working.

You can change data:blog.canonicalUrl to data:blog.url; if you do not want to add ?m=1, ?m=1 or others in the shared url on twitter. But you can not avoid them if you have turned on the mobile version for your blog in 'Template' section of your blogger dashboard.
Hoping all this information on twitter card use in blogger helped blog. Do share this; comment to let me know how this is working for you; especially about the multi-author twitter card solution.

How to Integration Blogger Blogs with Google Analytics

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 23:40:00 +0000

Blogger allows its users to easily connect a blog with Google Analytics. It is a free service that provides advance statistics about the traffic and visitors to a website or blog that the blogger's own stats just could not match. And you should use Google Analytics to your blog as it provides in-Page analytics to see how users really interact with your pages. Know how visitors are coming to your site, understand what they are looking for and what learn they are sharing or how and why they are leaving.

Google Analytics and Blogger integration is very easy, just follow few steps mentioned below;

Step-1: Sign-up/Sign-in to Google Analytics

Go to http://www.google.com/analytics and click "Access Google Analytics" than click "Sign Up" on the next page or "Sign-in" to analytics if you have an account already.

Step-2: Fill-up the Information and Create a Google Analytics Property

If do not have an Analytics account then the next page Titled "New Account"; click "Website" in "what you like to track"; Select "Universal Analytics", Fill-up the information below and insert you blog/website URL than click "Get Tracking ID" and then "Accept".

If you already have a account in Analytics than Click "Admin". On the Property section of that page click on the dropdown menu than click "Create new property". Now you should also lick "Website" in "what you like to track"; Select "Universal Analytics", Fill-up the information below with insert the blog/website URL than click "Get Tracking ID".

Step-3: Copy the Tracking ID and Paste it to Blogger

Now you will be redirect to the Property Settings of the website. You will find the tracking code on the top. Copy it and go to you Blogger Dashboard of the blog.

Then click Setting > Other > Google Analytics. Paste the code in the box and click "Save settings".

Step-4: Enable Google Analytics Script in Blogger Template

Now just one step remaining. You can achieve this by following any one of the two paths.

Path-A:(Recommended)

Go to "Admin" in Google Analytics.
Select you Account and Property that you have just created in Step-2.
Under the section "Property" click "Tracking Info" > "Tracking Code".
You will see the tracking code is given. Copy it.
Go to Blogger dashboard > Template and click "Edit HTML".
Find </body> and paste the copied code just before it.
Click "Save template".

That it you have successfully integrated Google Analytics in Blogger. By doing this you can skip step-3.

Path-B:(The Default way, also works smoothly)

Go to "Template"and click "Edit HTML". Look for this,
<b:include data='blog' name='google-analytics'/>
If you cannot find it in the template, than search for </body> and paste the above code just below it.

If you follow this method (path-b); the <b:include> tag should be in the template or you will not be able to use Google Analytics for your blogger.

You are done, Now enjoy the Google Analytics service for your blog. If you ever forget your tracking ID for the site, then just go log in to the Analytics site, click Admin, click the dropdown menu on the Property section and you should find it here; if not click the name of the of the property and clickTricking Info > Tracking Code.

Do share this with friends and comment to let me know if you are facing any problem in applying this tips.

How to Remove Default Widgets CSS(widget_css_bundle.css) from Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 23:20:00 +0000

Writing some great post and having a great design is not enough for your blog's/website's success. You must make sure the visitors feel comfortable visiting and browsing you blog or website. That means you blog should have the functionality with speed. If your blog takes forever to load than changes are visitors are leaving you blog, thus your site has a high bounce rate. You site must load quickly in any device or visitors are surly leaving quickly.

One of the way is to remove the Blog's remove the default widgets CSS(widget_css_bundle.css) from your Blogger blog. You actually cannot remove it but can comment it out using a simple technique.

What are the Default Widgets CSS files of Blogger

These are default widgets CSS files of Blogger.

<link type='text/css' rel='stylesheet' href='https://www.blogger.com/static/v1/widgets/3841957138-widget_css_bundle.css' />
<link type='text/css' rel='stylesheet' href='https://www.blogger.com/static/v1/widgets/1535467126-widget_css_2_bundle.css' />
<link type='text/css' rel='stylesheet' href='https://www.blogger.com/dyn-css/authorization.css?targetBlogID=367973271035573867&zx=0aa7d473-9366-475d-b9e5-3d07cdbeb132' />

Go to any page of your blog and view the source (CTRL+U) to see if any of them are loading in your blog. If that's true then you should follow the instructions below to remove them.

Remove Default Widgets CSS files of Blogger

You must make sure that you have a back-up copy of your template.
Go to Blogger Dashboard > Template.
CLick 'Edit HTML'.
Find <b:skin><![CDATA[/*
If required; cut all the code between <b:skin><![CDATA[/* and ]]></b:skin> and paste them in a new <style> tag. Like this:-
```
<style type="text/css">
/* ---
Style code of your blog
From the inside <b:skin>
--- */
</style>
```
Replace <b:skin><![CDATA[/*, ]]></b:skin> and anything in between with the following code.
```
&lt;style type=&quot;text/css&quot;&gt;&lt;!-- /*<b:skin><! CDATA[*/]]></b:skin>
```
Click 'Save Template'

By doing this the default widget CSS files will be ignored. You will see the significant decrease in loading time of your blog. Use Google-Developers PageSpeed Insights page and other speed taste tools check out your Blogger blog's speed and optimization score and suggestions.

Go to any page of your blog and view the source (CTRL+U) of it. You will find something like this;

<style type="text/css"><!-- /*<link type='text/css' rel='stylesheet' href='https://www.blogger.com/static/v1/widgets/3841957138-widget_css_bundle.css' />
<link type='text/css' rel='stylesheet' href='https://www.blogger.com/dyn-css/authorization.css?targetBlogID=367973271035573867&zx=aafd6115-a772-4cb1-a020-041a1d5b336f' />
<style id='page-skin-1' type='text/css'><!--*/
--></style>

Positives and Negatives of Removing the Default Widgets CSS files of Blogger

Before you use this method you should know that removing:-

If you are using any of the default templates given by Blogger, then doing this will completely destroy your blog's design and structure.
If you are too much dependent of the Blogger's built-in template Customize tool.
If you have very little idea about CSS and Blogger Template editing.

Despite these you should remove the default widgets CSSs because;

Page speed will improve; thus you blog will load more quickly than before. As fast loading website/blog is required to reduce the bounce rate.
Avoid loading unnecessary staff in your blog. These CSS codes are not that important to you blog's performance. Actually they reduce the performance of the blog by taking forever to load to no effect.
If you are coding your own Blogger template then you should remove them.
If you are using a custom made blogger template then you should remove the default CSSs of Blogger.
Removing the default CSSs will not cause any problem in using the default gadgets/widgets of Blogger.

Currently I am using this technique in this blog. I suggest you to get rid of both default widgets CSS (widget_css_bundle.css) and default widgets JavaScript (Widgets.js) from Blogger as it will increase your Blogger blog's page loading speed drastically.

Hope information here helped you. Do share your experience of using these tips.

Imperial Tobacco closes $13 billion of loans

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 22:10:00 +0000

British cigarette maker Imperial Tobacco has closed loans of about $13 billion to back its acquisition of selected brands and assets from Reynolds American Inc, the lead banks said on Monday.

The jumbo financing covers the $7.1 billion acquisition and refinances Imperial's existing core bank borrowings, which provide working capital and funds for general corporate purposes.

Fourteen banks joined underwriters, mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners on the financing: BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland and Banco Santander.

The deal closed oversubscribed and all the banks' commitments were scaled back.

Mandated lead arrangers joining the financing were BBVA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of China, Barclays Bank, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Societe Generale, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Unicredit Bank. Wells Fargo was lead arranger.

The acquisition financing includes a $4.1 billion term loan with a one-year maturity and a one-year extension option; a $1.5 billion three-year term loan and a $1.5 billion five-year term loan.

The refinancing and working capital facilities include a 1 billion euro ($1.3 billion) revolving credit facility with a maturity of 18 months and three six-month extension options, and a 2.835 billion euro five-year revolving credit with two one-year extension options.

A 500 million pound ($830.5 million) five-year revolving credit with two one-year extension options is also included.

Imperial agreed to acquire a portfolio of U.S. cigarette brands, Winston, Maverick, Kool, Salem and U.S. and international e-cigarette brand blu from Reynolds, after Reynolds announced its merger with Lorillard.

Imperial will also take over Lorillard's national sales force, offices and production facilities.

BBB/Baa3 rated Imperial expects to maintain an investment grade credit rating on its debt after the acquisition.

Imperial has suspended a share buy-back program of 500 million pounds a year to speed its debt repayment.

(1 US dollar = 0.7614 euro)

(1 US dollar = 0.6021 British pound)

New Apple iPhone to have 'mobile wallet' function: Bloomberg

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 18:12:00 +0000

Apple Inc plans to enable its next iPhone to become a mobile wallet by allowing owners to securely make mobile payments in a store with the touch of a finger, Bloomberg said on Sunday, citing a person familiar with the situation.

The agreement includes participation by Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc and American Express Co and will be announced Sept. 9 along with unveiling of the next iPhone, according to the source, who Bloomberg said asked not to be identified because the talks are private.

The new iPhone will simplify mobile payment by including a special communication chip, along with a fingerprint recognition reader that debuted on the most recent iPhone, the source said.

Officials could not immediately be reached at Apple, Visa, Mastercard and American Express.

EU regulators to decide on Facebook, WhatsApp deal by Oct. 3

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 17:51:00 +0000

European Union antitrust regulators will decide by Oct. 3 whether to clear world No. 1 online social network Facebook's $19 billion offer for mobile messaging startup WhatsApp, the European Commission said on Monday.

Facebook requested EU approval last week, the Commission's website showed. The EU competition watchdog can either clear the deal unconditionally, demand concessions or extend the preliminary review into a wider probe.

Facebook expects to close the deal, its largest in its 10-year history, this year. U.S. regulators cleared the takeover in April, telling WhatsApp to stick to its current privacy practices after the merger, including not to use users' personal data for targeted ads.

Auto Read More with thumbnail for Blogger/Blogspot Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 02:10:00 +0000

Auto Read More with thumbnail for Blogger/Blogspot Posts

How to make posts in the blog homepage to be displayed with an automatic "read more" button and a thumbnail.

To be more specific, this will show the title of the post, then a short summary with a number of characters and a thumbnail, that will be the thumbnail of the first image uploaded inside the post. After the thumbnail and the post summary, there will be a "Read More" link, which when you click on it, will take you to the actual post.
This Automatic Read More script will summarize content and a post summary will be shown only on the main blog page (homepage), category pages, and archive pages.

Using the Automatic Read More feature in Blogger Posts

Step 1. From your Blogger dashboard, go to Template and click on the Edit HTML button:

Step 2. Click anywhere inside the code area, then press the CTRL + F keys and search for this code:

<data:post.body/>

Note: after hitting Enter, you'll find this code more than once but you need to stop at the third one.

Step 3. Replace the code above with this one:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "static_page"'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<div expr:id='"summary" + data:post.id'><data:post.body/></div>
<script type='text/javascript'>createSummaryAndThumb("summary<data:post.id/>","<data:post.url/>","<data:post.title/>");</script>
<span class='readmore' style='float:right;'><a expr:href='data:post.url'>Read More »</a></span></b:if></b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'><data:post.body/></b:if>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "static_page"'><data:post.body/></b:if>

Note: if you don't see any changes after going through all the steps, please try to replace the second <data:post.body/> as well.

Step 4. Now search for the following tag:

</head>

Step 5. Just above the </head> tag, add the following code:

<script type='text/javascript'>
posts_no_thumb_sum = 490;
posts_thumb_sum = 400;
img_thumb_height = 160;
img_thumb_width = 180;
</script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
function removeHtmlTag(strx,chop){
if(strx.indexOf("<")!=-1)
{
var s = strx.split("<");
for(var i=0;i<s.length;i++){
if(s[i].indexOf(">")!=-1){
s[i] = s[i].substring(s[i].indexOf(">")+1,s[i].length);
}
}
strx = s.join("");
}
chop = (chop < strx.length-1) ? chop : strx.length-2;
while(strx.charAt(chop-1)!=' ' && strx.indexOf(' ',chop)!=-1) chop++;
strx = strx.substring(0,chop-1);
return strx+'...';
}
function createSummaryAndThumb(pID, pURL, pTITLE){
var div = document.getElementById(pID);
var imgtag = "";
var img = div.getElementsByTagName("img");
var summ = posts_no_thumb_sum;
if(img.length>=1) {
imgtag = '<span class="posts-thumb" style="float:left; margin-right: 10px;"><a href="'+ pURL +'" title="'+ pTITLE+'"><img src="'+img[0].src+'" width="'+img_thumb_width+'px" height="'+img_thumb_height+'px" /></a></span>';
summ = posts_thumb_sum;
}

var summary = imgtag + '<div>' + removeHtmlTag(div.innerHTML,summ) + '</div>';
div.innerHTML = summary;
}
//]]>
</script>

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "static_page"'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<style type='text/css'>
.post-footer {display: none;}
.post {margin-bottom: 10px; border-bottom: 1px dotted #E6E6E6; padding-bottom: 20px;}
.readmore a {text-decoration: none; }
</style>
</b:if>
</b:if>

Note:

- To change the number of characters shown when there is no thumbnail, modify the 490 value in blue. For the number of characters shown when a post has a thumbnail, modify the 400 value.
- If you want larger thumbnails, modify the 160 (height) and 180 (width) values in red.

Step 6. Click on the Save template button to save the changes.

That's it, enjoy!

AT&T sues Cox Communications for patent infringement

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 00:36:00 +0000

AT&T (T.N) is suing Cox Communications for infringing eight patents dealing with network quality after the regional cable provider ignored its complaints about the issue and made "billions" off of the technology, according to a new lawsuit.

In the suit filed Friday in Delaware federal court against Cox and more than 30 of its regional units, AT&T said that Cox had been warned about the claims of patent infringement as far back as 2009. It said Cox delayed negotiations and refused to take a license for the technologies.

AT&T claims the patents were infringed in Cox's use and sale of digital video recorders, set top boxes, Internet and telephone systems, according to the lawsuit.

The patents relate to methods for improving the quality and reducing the costs of telecommunications services, the suit said.

AT&T said in the suit that Cox was also inducing its employees and subscribers to infringe.

"(Cox) generates billions of dollars in revenue every year through its use of AT&T's technologies," the telecommunications giant said, adding that the lawsuit is necessary to prove AT&T is owed royalty payments for the alleged unauthorized use of its inventions.

A representative from Cox said the company just learned of the case and had no comment. Attorneys for AT&T also could not immediately be reached.

AT&T is asking the court to declare Cox's infringement "wilful and deliberate" and seeks unspecified damages. It also wants the court to order Cox to pay a "compulsory, ongoing" royalty to AT&T.

The case is AT&T Intellectual Property I, LP, and AT&T Intellectual Property II, LP, v. Cox Communications et al, No. 14-cv-01106.

Look inside:Intel hires senior Qualcomm exec to boost mobile business

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 00:23:00 +0000

Chipmaker Intel Corp (INTC.O) has hired Amir Faintuch, a senior executive at rival Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O), to step up efforts in mobile and Internet-connected gadgets.

Hiring a senior executive from a major competitor is rare for Intel, which is known in Silicon Valley for its insular culture, and it reflects the eagerness of the Santa Clara, California, chipmaker to improve its struggling mobile business.

Faintuch, who previously oversaw Qualcomm's networking and connectivity businesses as president of Qualcomm Atheros, is joining Intel as a senior vice president and co-general manager of the Platform Engineering Group, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said on Friday.

He will be among Intel's dozen or so most senior executives and will co-manage the Platform Engineering Group with Josh Walden, a manufacturing technology expert who previously led the group.

Mulloy told Reuters that in addition to strong network skills, Faintuch brings experience designing "system on chips," or SoCs, which combine features like modems, Wi-Fi and memory.

While Intel excels at developing processors for laptops and desktop computers, it has less experience designing SoCs, which are widely used in smartphones and tablets.

“We want to accelerate our success rate with SoCs and get the designs aligned and the roadmaps aligned to do that," Mulloy said. "We’ve made good progress but there’s more to be done. Amir has extensive management experience and a strong resume."

A Qualcomm spokesman had no comment beyond confirming Faintuch's departure.

Bringing in Faintuch, which was announced in an email to Intel employees on Friday, is the latest move by the company to accelerate progress in mobile gadgets, where it trails Qualcomm.

Since taking over in 2013, CEO Brian Krzanich has made a number of sweeping changes designed to counteract a slump in PC sales, including opening Intel's cutting-edge factories to other chipmakers willing to pay for access to them.

In May, Intel reached an agreement with Chinese SoC specialist Rockchip to make chips for inexpensive tablets running Google Inc's (GOOGL.O) Android platform.

As Intel struggles with declining PC sales and slow progress in mobile, Qualcomm, whose smartphone chips lead the industry, has been viewed by many engineers in recent years as a potentially more attractive place to work.

In 2012, senior executive Anand Chandrasekher, a 25-year Intel veteran, jumped over to Qualcomm to become the San Diego company's chief marketing officer.

Telecom Italia in a bind after losing GVT bid battle

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 18:46:00 +0000

Telecom Italia has lost a promising path to earnings growth by failing to secure Brazilian broadband business GVT and may now turn from hunter to hunted in a fast-consolidating telecoms industry.

Winning the auction for French media company Vivendi's GVT was vital for both Telecom Italia and its rival, Spain's Telefonica, as their European markets have been shrinking. Italy was gripped by a mobile price war for much of last year, revenue is falling and competition remains tough.

Telecom Italia lost out to Telefonica as it could not afford to top its 7.45-billion-euro offer for GVT. Telecom Italia has debts of 32 billion euros ($42 billion) according to Moody's, and lost its investment-grade credit rating last year.

Buying GVT would have solved Telecom Italia's biggest weakness in Brazil - the fact that its mobile business lacks the broadband networks of its local rivals.

It may now consider exiting the country, where it makes a third of its revenue, helping it pay some of its debts but leaving it even more reliant on a sluggish domestic market.

Seven bankers and investors interviewed by Reuters on Friday portrayed Telecom Italia as a company without a clear direction that would struggle to raise fresh cash from shareholders to fund important network improvements.

Chief Executive Marco Patuano "has a lot of egg on his face", said one Milan-based senior banker. "He aggressively sold (the GVT deal) as the answer to Telecom Italia's woes and now he has to go back to the financial community and tell them what's next."

"There won't be a capital increase simply because it's going to take some time for the company to recover from the setback and come up with a new strategy – you can't ask for fresh equity without a clear strategic plan."

Adding further confusion is Telecom Italia's changing shareholder base. Telefonica is now its largest indirect shareholder, with a 14.8 percent interest, but will sell part of that stake to Vivendi as payment for GVT. Italian financial institutions also want out of what has been a money-losing investment since 2007.

Vivendi is likely to accept to take from Telefonica some 5.7 percent of Telecom Italia shares, or 8.3 percent of voting rights, sources told Reuters. Analysts have speculated Vivendi could later buy out the Italian investors too.

Some said Patuano's predicament made Telecom Italia a potential takeover target for the likes of Deutsche Telekom or Vodafone.

Niall Dineen, a portfolio manager at AGF International Advisors and a shareholder in Telecom Italia and Telefonica, said Telecom Italia was "no longer a consolidator" but had become a "prey in the industry".

Telecom Italia and Telefonica compete in Brazil as owners of number-two mobile carrier Tim Participacoes and number one Vivo respectively.

A banker advising Telecom Italia said the Italians had expected Vivendi to favor their GVT offer, despite Telefonica putting in a higher bid, because of the prospect of content partnerships and Vivendi's supposed interest in Italy.

A FUTURE IN BRAZIL?

Patuano's strategy unveiled last year called for asset disposals in Argentina and elsewhere to help fund network investments in Italy to boost broadband speeds and roll out 4G mobile technology. He maintained that Telecom Italia's Brazilian business TIM Brasil remained key to the group's future.

Patuano's devotion to Brazil may soon be tested. Grupo Oi, Brazil's largest telecoms company, has signaled it is exploring a bid to split TIM Brasil between itself, Mexico's America Movil and Telefonica.

Telecom Italia said on Wednesday it knew nothing of the approach for TIM Brasil, which has a market capitalization of $13.3 billion. After losing GVT on Thursday, the company said it would stick to its strategic plan to develop Brazil.

However, analysts and bankers said Telecom Italia might change its mind.

"Oi's recent announcement ... could represent an exit strategy for Telecom Italia from Brazil, where it could be paid a significant premium for its asset," said Espirito Santo.

Dineen at AGF said: "Its Brazilian business will be gobbled up and it will probably get a good price for it."

It remains to be seen whether Oi, which is heavily indebted itself after buying Portugal Telecom, will be able to pull off a bid for TIM Brasil, several bankers said. A joint bid to break up TIM's assets among the three local carriers could also run into regulatory opposition, the people said.

A sale would help Telecom Italia to cut debt. Ratings agency Fitch estimated on Friday that selling TIM Brasil could reduce leverage on a net debt to EBITDA basis by 0.2-0.4 times. Telecom Italia's leverage ratio, which was 2.9 times at the end of 2013, is likely to increase this year due to falling profits and weak free cash flow, Fitch said.

The banker working for Telecom Italia said Patuano "doesn't want to sell Brazil, but there is no plan B right now".

He laid out three options for the group: sell to a larger European peer such as Deutsche Telekom, pursue a tie-up in Brazil, perhaps launching a capital hike to bid to buy Oi, or pursue a telecom-to-media consolidation plan in Italy via a deal with Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset.

He added that he saw Telecom Italia's "best option" was to look at a deal to partner with Oi in Brazil since it would make sense to merge the biggest fixed-line operator with the number-two mobile operator.

Another banker downplayed the chances of a foreign company buying a more domestic-focused Telecom Italia because the poor state of the Italian market would act as a "poison pill".

Carlos Winzer, credit analyst at Moody's, saw one silver lining for Telecom Italia in the GVT loss, namely how it would pave the way for Telefonica to part ways with Telecom Italia.

The value of Telefonica's shares in Telecom Italia have plummeted by almost 70 percent since it entered in April 2007. A consortium made up of Telefonica and four Italian firms acquired a 23.6 percent stake in Telecom Italia for around 4.1 billion euros, valuing Telecom Italia's shares at 2.82 euro per share.

The shares closed at 0.88 euro on Friday.

"At least Telecom Italia will truly be independent now from Telefonica, ending the complicated relationship between the two companies," said Winzer.

Bootstrap

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 17:36:00 +0000

About Bootstrap

Bootstrap is an intuitive and very powerful front-end framework. Twitter Bootstrap is a free collection of tools for faster and easier web development. It was designed for developers of all skill levels.

It contains CSS styles and components and JavaScript plugins. Bootstrap is built with LESS, which is a favorite dynamic stylesheet language. Bootstrap can be used as a whole kit or just some part of it.

As the name implies Bootstrap was originaly developed by Twitter for internal purposes. Today it is one of the most popular projects on GitHub.

Bootstrap Features

Bootstrap has a lot of useful resources and features for faster and more intuitive web development:

Responsive 12-column grid
CSS styles and components
Lots of modular jQuery plugins
HTML components
Responsive features according to resolutions and devices
Built on LESS
Complete styleguide documentation

Bootstrap versions

There are two main versions out there: 3 RC1 & 2.3.2. Version 3 is mobile first and drops responsive support for IE8. It also has completely different syntax so it's incompatible with version 2 projects.

Version 3 RC1: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE9+, iOS (iPhone), iOS (iPad), Android 2, 4 (Phone), Android 2, 4 (Tablet), Windows Phone 7+, Surface
Version 2.3.2: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, IE7+, "tablets and smartphones"

Swatch prefers go-it-alone route for smartwatch plans

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 16:21:00 +0000

Swatch Group is happy to go it alone with a launch next year of watches with "smart" features to compete with so-called wearable gadgets from the big tech companies, a market potentially worth $93 billion.

The world's biggest watchmaker, which sees the advent of smartwatches as an opportunity rather than a threat, will unveil its new Swatch Touch next summer.

Swatch Chief Executive Nick Hayek said these new watches might allow the wearer to count the number of steps they take and calories they burn. And there will be a few other cool 'Swatchy' things on offer via latest Bluetooth technology, he said in an interview at the company's headquarters in Biel.

"All the big technology firms want to work with us and I don't rule out that we are or could be collaborating in some areas. But we can also do many things on our own."

Wearable gadgets, such as smartwatches that allow users to connect to their phone to check emails, make calls or monitor their health, are expected to be the next big thing in the tech world and a potential threat to traditional wristwatch sales.

Apple Inc has just invited media to a "special event" next month, fuelling speculation it might present a much-anticipated "iWatch."

The possibility of an iWatch launch is partly responsible for Swatch shares losing almost 15 percent so far this year, lagging a 3 percent rise in the European sector.

"For Swatch, this could mean a 2 percent hit to revenue and earnings before interest and tax for each 10 percent share that the iWatch was able to gain in its addressable market," Bernstein analyst Mario Ortelli said in a study in July. Ortelli has a "market perform" rating on Swatch's shares.

Other tech companies are working on smartwatches. Google's Motorola is set to launch a Moto360 smartwatch next week in the United States.

But the spotlight is on Apple after the company poached executives from the fashion, luxury and medtech (medical)industries and registered the trademark "iWatch" in Japan.

DREAM TEAM

For many analysts, Swatch and Apple would be the dream team for a smartwatch project, but Swatch has always played down its interest in such a relationship. The argument is that Swatch's business is selling watches not technology.

"Our first message for customers is the watch. If they like it, they might also be interested in the extra functions," Hayek said. "It is a problem if you only define a product by its technology. Technology alone doesn't sell, not in watches."

His comments highlight the importance of fashion and branding for the development of the smartwatch business.

"(Technology firms) that want to strike partnerships with us also want access to brands. They want (their products) to be more than a commodity," the CEO said.

Swatch has a well-established list of brands, including its colorful Swatch watches, sporty Tissot and Longines, elegant Omega and hand-decorated Breguet timepieces.

There are already smartwatches on the market from companies like Samsung, Sony Corp and LG Electronics, but these have had mixed reviews.

Experts say even if the technology is cheap and small enough for wearable gadgets, this is not enough for consumers. "Nobody has hit on the right combination of problems a wearable should solve and convinced mainstream consumers," Avi Greengart, research director at IT research firm Current Analysis, said.

The rewards are potentially huge for whoever comes up with a winning formula. Andrew Sheehy, chief analyst at Generator Research, sees the retail value of wearable Internet-connected devices at $93.1 billion by 2018, versus $4.1 billion in 2014, with smartwatches accounting for about two thirds of the market's value in 2018.

TECH EXPERTISE

Swatch itself is already in the tech business, making microchips, displays and batteries, mainly for third parties, including mobile phone and smartwatch makers.

"We work with many companies, but there's no reason to shout it from the rooftops," Hayek said. "EM Marin supplies tiny parts to many, maybe also Apple. We also make batteries for others. But that's not our core business."

Swatch's electronic systems arm includes semiconductor maker EM Marin, battery maker Renata, quartz maker Micro Crystal and its sports timing business. It had sales of 299 million Swiss francs (327.31 million US dollar) in 2013, but the strong franc led to an operating loss of 12 million francs.

"I don't know if it will turn profitable this year, that depends on the dollar," Hayek said.

Almost 500 people work at EM in Marin, about a half-hour drive from Biel, and another 500 at sites worldwide.

"Low-power and low-voltage microchips are our specialty. The Swatch Touch, for example, is the only battery-powered device to have a touch screen that is always active because its power consumption is so low," Michel Willemin, head of EM Marin, said.

EM Marin supplies components and Renata long-life batteries for Garmin's Vivofit fitness band that monitors distances walked and calories burned.

"Fitness bands are a trend," Hayek said. "They are selling like crazy in the U.S., but our Swatch and Tissot brands still have double-digit sales growth there. People wear the band on the other wrist and often take it off again after a few weeks."

(1 US dollar = 0.9135 Swiss franc)

Blog Test-Mobile

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 16:09:00 +0000

Microsoft will not hand over overseas email, despite order

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 16:03:00 +0000

A judge on Friday lifted a suspension on her order directing Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) to turn over a customer's emails stored overseas to U.S. prosecutors, but the software company said it would not release any emails while it appeals the ruling.

Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan had on July 31 upheld a magistrate judge's ruling on the emails, which have been held in a data center in Ireland.

That prospect had drawn concern from technology companies - fearful of losing revenue from foreign customers worried that U.S. law enforcement might win broad power to seize their data.

Microsoft in particular was stung by revelations last year by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and has been at pains to prove to customers that it does not allow the U.S. government unchallenged access to personal data on its servers.

Preska had delayed enforcement of the government's search warrant so Microsoft could appeal.

But prosecutors later said that because her order was not a "final, appealable order" and because Microsoft had yet to be held in contempt, there was no legal reason to enforce the stay.

Preska agreed, saying her order "merely confirmed the government's temporary forbearing of its right to stay enforcement of the order it secured."

She added that "the fact the court has not closed this case cuts against Microsoft's argument" that her order was final and appealable.

The judge ordered both sides to advise by Sept. 5 how to proceed.

However, Microsoft is still refusing to comply with the judge's order, pending attempts to overturn it.

"Microsoft will not be turning over the email and plans to appeal,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters. "Everyone agrees this case can and will proceed to the appeals court. This is simply about finding the appropriate procedure for that to happen."

The case appeared to be the first in which a corporation has challenged a U.S. search warrant seeking data held abroad.

AT&T Inc (T.N), Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) and Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) submitted briefs supporting Microsoft's opposition to the warrant.

The case is In re: A Warrant to Search a Certain E-Mail Account Controlled and Maintained by Microsoft Corp, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-mj-02814.

Digital Ally says camera inquiries up five-fold after Ferguson shooting

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 15:42:00 +0000

Digital Ally Inc forecast full-year revenue of about $22.5 million, encouraged by a "five-fold" rise in inquiries for its wearable cameras from police departments in the aftermath of the fatal shooting in Ferguson this month.

The forecast translates into a 26.4 percent jump in revenue from $17.8 million in 2013.

The fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked demand to hold law enforcement officials accountable and in turn fueled interest in companies such as Digital Ally and Taser International Inc.

The company's 2014 revenue forecast was first reported by USA Today on Thursday, citing Chief Executive Stanton Ross, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

Digital Ally said on Thursday it had received its first camera order after the Ferguson incident from the Michigan police department.

The company's shares closed at $18.66 on Friday on the Nasdaq.

Up to Friday's close, the stock had risen about 387 percent since Aug. 8, the day before the shooting, while Taser's shares had risen nearly 27 percent.

F-16s dispatched for unresponsive pilot of small plane near D.C.

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 09:21:00 +0000

Two F-16 fighter jets were dispatched to check on a small plane that entered restricted airspace around Washington, D.C., on Saturday, and the fighter pilots observed the person at the controls to be unconscious before the plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, officials said.

The pilot of the Cirrus SR22 propeller plane took off from Waukesha County Airport in Wisconsin and had been destined for Manassas Regional Airport in Virginia, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

But the pilot failed to land as scheduled and remained at an altitude of about 13,000 feet as the plane crossed into restricted airspace around Washington, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement. The pilot had stopped responding to radio calls.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command dispatched two F-16 fighter jets, a spokeswoman for the agency said. Their pilots got alongside the small plane and saw that the pilot appeared to be unconscious, the Coast Guard statement said.

They stayed with the plane as it continued past the coast of Virginia, ran out of fuel and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, the statement said.

The Coast Guard declined to identify the pilot pending notification of next of kin.

The Coast Guard sent a cutter ship, a helicopter and an airplane to search for the wreckage and the body of the pilot, but nothing has been recovered, Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Nate Littlejohn said.

Experimental U.S. hypersonic weapon destroyed seconds after launch

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 09:01:00 +0000

A hypersonic weapon being developed by the U.S. military was destroyed four seconds after its launch from a test range in Alaska early on Monday after controllers detected a problem with the system, the Pentagon said.

The weapon is part of a program to create a missile that will destroy targets anywhere on Earth within an hour of getting data and permission to launch.

The mission was aborted to ensure public safety, and no one was injured in the incident, which occurred shortly after 4 a.m. EDT at the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska, said Maureen Schumann, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Defense Department.

"We had to terminate," Schumann said. "The weapon exploded during takeoff and fell back down in the range complex," she added.

The incident caused an undetermined amount of damage to the launch facility, Schumann said.

It was a setback for the U.S. program, which some analysts see as countering the growing development of ballistic missiles by Iran and North Korea but others say is part of an arms race with China, which tested a hypersonic system in January.

Riki Ellison, founder of the nonprofit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said he did not think Monday's failure would lead to the program's termination. "This is such an important mission and there is promise in this technology," he said.

He said officials aborted the mission after detecting a fault in the computers.

Anthony Cordesman, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said the technology was best suited for use against smaller, less-developed countries with missiles.

"The United States has never assumed that these ... are going to be systems that you can use against a power like China by themselves," he said. "For a country like Iran or North Korea, they could be a very significant deterrent."

James Acton, a defense analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the Pentagon had never been clear about the mission for the weapon, with some viewing it as an effective tool against terrorists and others seeing it as a counter to China or Iran and North Korea.

While hypersonic weapons are unlikely to be fielded for a decade, Acton said the fact that Washington and Beijing were both testing the weapons indicated there was a real potential for an arms race.

"I believe the U.S. program is significantly more sophisticated than the Chinese program," he said.

The weapon, known as the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, was developed by Sandia National Laboratory and the U.S. Army.

Schumann said it included a glide body mounted on a three-stage, solid-propellant booster system known as STARS, for Strategic Target System.

In a previous test in November 2011, the craft had successfully flown from Hawaii to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, she said. On Monday, it was supposed to fly from Alaska to the Kwajalein Atoll.

Acton said no conclusions could be drawn about the weapon based on Monday's accident because the launcher detonated before the glide vehicle could be deployed.

EU leaders to threaten extra Russia sanctions, agree new team

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 18:42:00 +0000

European Union leaders will threaten Russia with new sanctions over Ukraine on Saturday but, fearful of a new Cold War and self-inflicted harm to their own economies, should give Moscow another chance to make peace.

At a summit in Brussels that handed one of the Union's top jobs to Poland's premier and gives hawkish Kremlin critics in Eastern Europe new influence in the bloc, EU officials gave Ukraine's embattled President Petro Poroshenko a warm welcome and assurances of further economic and other support.

But divisions among the 28 EU nations have hampered action against Moscow, and a draft of Saturday's final statement indicated that they will merely ask the bloc's executive arm "urgently" to prepare more options for sanctions.

Poroshenko, who warned that a failure of attempts in coming days to end fighting with Russian troops and rebels in the east could lead to "full-scale war", said EU leaders had agreed that new sanctions would be conditional on his peace plan working.

The appointment of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk as president of the European Council was balanced by the appointment of Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini as the bloc's foreign affairs chief.

Ex-communist states had deadlocked an earlier summit two months ago by opposing Mogherini as too soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin and too beholden to Italy's reliance on Russian natural gas supplies.

The move of Tusk, a former student activist in the anti-Communist Solidarity movement, to Brussels will force an upheaval in the government in Warsaw.

French President Francois Hollande stressed that a failure by Russia to reverse a flow of weapons and troops into eastern Ukraine would force the bloc to impose new economic measures.

"Are we going to let the situation worsen, until it leads to war?" Hollande said at a news conference. "Because that's the risk today. There is no time to waste."

"WAR AGAINST EUROPE"

The president of formerly Soviet Lithuania, an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin and of EU hesitation to challenge him, called for urgent military supplies to Kiev and a tougher arms embargo on Russia. Dalia Grybauskaite said Moscow, by attacking Ukraine, was effectively "in a state of war against Europe".

But large Western countries are wary of damaging their own economies through sanctions. Those include Germany, Britain and France, as well as Italy, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas and expects to secure the post of EU foreign affairs chief.

Poroshenko gave short shrift to Moscow's denials by denouncing the past week's incursion of thousands of troops with hundreds of armored vehicles and said he expected the summit to order the European Commission to prepare a new set of sanctions.

But, like Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, he used their joint news conference to stress the importance of finding a political solution to a crisis that President Putin blames on Kiev's drive to turn the ex-Soviet state away from its former master Moscow and toward an alliance with the EU and NATO.

He said he was not looking for foreign military intervention and hoped for a ceasefire deal as early as Monday, when representatives of Moscow, Kiev and the EU meet.

"I think we are very close to the point of no return," he said. "The point of no return is full-scale war, which already happened on the territory controlled by separatists."

DEAL DONE

The appointments of Tusk and Mogherini balance the interests of left- and right-wing factions across the bloc, eastern and western states, northern Europe and the south, as well as satisfying some pressure for more women in senior EU roles.

With Tusk, a conservative easterner, replacing the Belgian Van Rompuy, Mogherini from the center left takes over as the bloc's foreign policy chief, replacing Briton Catherine Ashton.

Tusk will also chair summits of the euro zone countries, even though Poland has yet to adopt the common EU currency. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that was a mark of the leaders' determination to "show unity" and avoid the Union splitting between the 18 states using the euro and the other 10.

In overall charge of the executive Commission, in succession to Barroso, will be conservative former Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker, appointed at a stormy summit two months ago.

Other elements in striking a deal on the top jobs will be understandings reached on further key roles in the Commission, which will be formed in the coming weeks by Juncker.

His appointment at the last summit in late June followed an acrimonious attempt by British Prime Minister David Cameron to block Juncker, whom London sees as too keen on centralizing powers in Brussels - a movement Cameron wants to reverse and over which he has warned that Britain might even quit the Union.

Britain, France, Germany and other countries are competing to see their nominees secure important portfolios in Juncker's team, such as in economic affairs, trade and energy supply.

The horse-trading over jobs underlines the power of rival national governments over the supranational institutions of the EU. Proponents of a strong political leadership in Brussels that can inspire and rally an increasingly skeptical European public behind the common project may again be left disappointed.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Friday he would propose a meeting to discuss tackling the "really worrying" economic situation across Europe, with growth and jobs elusive and fears of a new crisis for the euro currency.

The leaders agreed to schedule that summit for Oct. 7, according to the draft statement.

Germany, the leading economic power, has given signs this week of softening its opposition to calls from Italy and France for more leeway to stimulate growth by government spending. The leaders may make statements on the issue on Saturday.

Hollande said EU states had to invest to promote growth and to use "all possible flexibilities" in the treaties that set up the currency union so that efforts to meet obligations to curb public deficits were adapted to foster economic growth.

archive:Anonymous launches 4-day privacy rights protest outside UK spy base

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 18:17:00 +0000

A four-day protest organized by the hacktivist collective Anonymous UK has begun outside Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). The demonstration was launched in support of a legal challenge against GCHQ mass surveillance.

#OpGCHQ: Anonymous launches 4-day privacy rights protest outside UK spy base

Anonymous has dubbed the protest ‘Operation GCHQ’, and is appealing to UK and international activists to attend the event. While a modest group of fifty to sixty campaigners had gathered outside the UK government’s listening post early on Friday evening, up to 9,000 are expected to attend the demonstration over the weekend. According to Anonymous UK, Saturday is set to be the main day of protest.

Anonymous is targeting the Cheltenham-based spy base to highlight grave concerns over an unwavering assault on Britons’ privacy rights in an increasing climate of mass surveillance. Privacy rights activists from France, Germany, Sweden and Ireland will attend the protest and join the collective in their call for a surveillance policy shift. Central to campaigners' demands, is the prioritization of citizens' right to privacy over the interests of security agencies.

A spokesperson for Anonymous’ media team told RT on Friday UK authorities' insistence on spying on their own people with no legal justification was a primary motivation for holding the protest. “Innocent activists who have never broken any laws and act within the law are still targets of GCHQ and other spying agencies”, he said.

Although GCHQ attempted to liaise with Anonymous UK in advance of the four-day demonstration, a spokesperson for the collective who calls himself Ajacxuk said the group declined to respond.

“No correspondence is necessary. It’s our democratic right to protest. As long as the protest remains peaceful and respectful of GCHQ property there shouldn't be a need to justify activists’ motivation to defend their right to privacy”, he said.

While Anonymous UK acknowledge a degree of surveillance is required to protect Britain's national security, it cautions that current levels of GCHQ spying are unacceptable. Reflecting on the intrusive nature of GCHQ's surveillance techniques, Ajacxuk insists the intelligence agency possess an unhealthy degree of leverage - often manipulating the rule of law at will.

“Things need to change.This is beyond what’s reasonable - beyond legality", he argues.

Ajacxuk, who runs the hacktivist collective’s radio station, insists Anonymous UK have been unjustly targeted by GCHQ on multiple occasions.“One of our servers was destroyed and our UK radio station has been shut down", he said on Friday, adding the group's site was also taken down following the launch of a campaign to feed homeless people throughout Britain.

Commenting on Anonymous' privacy concerns, another member of the hacktivist group told the BBC, “nobody wants to feel as though their every move is being watched, as though every bit of data is being collected."

The surveillance state: 'duplicitous and deeply wrong’

The legal proceedings which inspired the protest were launched by several civil liberty and human rights groups that question the legitimacy of UK intelligence agencies’ invasive practices. The case, brought by Liberty, Privacy International, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and several other prominent international groups, focuses on grave concerns regarding a mass surveillance program called Tempora.

Documents leaked to the Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden allege the program facilitates UK intelligence officials' access to private email messages, information entered on social networking sites such as Facebook and telephone calls. While UK authorities have not denied the existence of this program, they are unwilling to comment on its operation.

We've been in the IPT today for our mass #surveillance claim against the Security Services. Here's our press release https://t.co/p6C3iEi30L
— Liberty (@libertyhq) July 14, 2014

Britain’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) - a court which investigates complaints pertaining to the unlawful use of state practices that infringe on the public’s right to privacy - is currently seeking to ascertain whether Tempora exists. The IPT heard the case against the Secretaries of State in the Royal Courts of Justice in July. The proceedings, which were held in a public forum over five days, were initiated to discern if allegations derived from the Snowden leaks constituted a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

A final judgment was reserved, and the civil liberties groups who launched the proceedings are still awaiting an outcome. But Ajacxuk doesn’t believe the final judgement will favour the public’s right to privacy.“The government will carry on regardless. They will persist”,he suggests.

Reflecting on the case, Liberty's legal director James Welch said, “no-one suggests a completely unpoliced internet, but those in power cannot swap targeted investigations for endless monitoring of the entire globe."
In a BBC interview, UK actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry denounced UK authorities’ efforts to justify spying on their citizens on the basis of speculative threats to national security.

“The fear of terrorism that we all have, the fear of the unknown that we all share, the fear of enemies who hate us is a duplicitous and deeply wrong means of excusing something as base as spying on the citizens of your own country”, he argued.

Probed on whether Anonymous hacktivists have been targeted by British authorities under UK terrorism legislation, a spokesperson for the group declined to comment but emphasized hacktivists are regularly targeted internationally on these grounds.

Another member of the group said it’s quite likely many of those attending the protest over the weekend could be blacklisted and labelled by UK intelligence officials as “domestic terrorists”.

US judge rules Microsoft must handover personal data stored abroad

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 17:38:00 +0000

Microsoft has been told it must handover emails stored abroad to US prosecutors by a New York court. However, the software giant says it will fight the ruling, saying that an email deserves the same privacy protection as a paper letter sent by mail.

The company says they will not release any emails to US authorities, while it appeals the ruling, made by Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the US District Court in Manhattan. She said that Microsoft must hand over information, regardless of where it was stored.

"Microsoft will not be turning over the email and plans to appeal,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters. "Everyone agrees this case can and will proceed to the appeals court. This is simply about finding the appropriate procedure for that to happen."

Preska says her decision is final, but she will allow Microsoft to appeal the ruling and as asked both parties to give their planned courses of action by September 5. This case appears to be the first of its kind in which a corporation is challenging a US search warrant to obtain data being held overseas.

The original July 31 ruling concerned a warrant prosecutors served on Microsoft for an individual's emails stored in Dublin, Ireland. A magistrate judge in April ruled the warrant was valid.

Tech companies are not happy about the ruling as they gain revenue by storing foreign emails abroad, which they believed were out of the jurisdiction of the US authorities. However, the ruling by the New York court has changed this and if the appeal by Microsoft is unsuccessful, US law enforcement agencies would in theory be able to seize any data they wished.

“Earlier this month, the British government passed a law asserting its right to require tech companies to produce emails stored anywhere in the world. This would include emails stored in the US by Americans who have never been to the UK,” Brendon Lynch, Chief Privacy Officer for Microsoft, wrote in his blog.

Lynch says Microsoft is committed to delivering meaningful privacy protections, which build trust with the customers. “We believe your email belongs to you, not us, and that it should receive the same privacy protection as paper letters sent by mail – no matter where it is stored,” he said.

“While we appreciate the vital importance of public safety, we believe it’s also important to strike the right balance with the privacy concerns of people who use technology. A recent poll shows most Americans agree,” Lynch added.

The poll, which was conducted by public opinion research firm of Anzalone Liszt in July, says that 79 percent agree that the federal government should have to respect local privacy laws when searching through people’s personal information like their email accounts. It also shows that 86 percent think police should have to follow the same legal requirements for obtaining personal information stored in the cloud as they do for personal information stored on paper.

Microsoft is particularly wary about data security following revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that the US government was collecting massive amounts of data from around the world. It has since been trying to reassure its customers that it does not allow the US government unrestricted access to personal documents that are stored on its servers.

Google tests drone deliveries in Project Wing trials

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 10:24:00 +0000

Google has built and tested autonomous aerial vehicles, which it believes could be used for goods deliveries.

The Project Wing trials have been held in Australia's north-eastern state Queensland.

Google would not be permitted to carry out the Project Wing tests in the US.

The project is being developed at Google X, the company's clandestine tech research arm, which is also responsible for its self-driving car.

Project Wing has been running for two years, but was a secret until now.

Google said that its long-term goal was to develop drones that could be used for disaster relief by delivering aid to isolated areas.

They could be used after earthquakes, floods, or extreme weather events, the company suggested, to take small items such as medicines or batteries to people in areas that conventional vehicles cannot reach.

"Even just a few of these, being able to shuttle nearly continuously could service a very large number of people in an emergency situation," explained Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots - Google X's name for big-thinking projects.

Australia tests

Google's self-flying vehicle project was first conceived of as a way to deliver defibrillator kits to people suspected of having heart attacks. The idea was that the drones would transport the equipment faster than an ambulance could.

"When you have a tool like this you can really allow the operators of those emergency services to add an entirely new dimension to the set of tools and solutions that they can think of," said Dave Voss, incoming leader of Project Wing.

The prototype vehicles that the company has built have successfully been tested by delivering packages to remote farms in Queensland, Australia from neighbouring properties.

Australia was selected as a test site due to what Google calls "progressive" rules about the use of drones, which are more tightly controlled in other parts of the word.

Dual mode

Project Wing's aircraft have a wingspan of approximately 1.5m (4.9ft) and have four electrically-driven propellers.

The total weight, including the package to be delivered, is approximately 10kg (22lb). The aircraft itself accounts for the bulk of that at 8.5kg (18.7lb).

The small, white glossy machine has a "blended wing" design where the entire body of the aircraft provides lift.

The vehicle is known as a "tail sitter" - since it rests on the ground with its propellers pointed straight up, but then transitions into a horizontal flight pattern.

This dual mode operation gives the self-flying vehicle some of the benefits of both planes and helicopters.

It can take off or land without a runway, and can hold its position hovering in one spot. It can also fly quickly and efficiently, allowing it to cover larger distances than the more traditional quadcopter vehicles available commercially.

The vehicles are pre-programmed with a destination, but then left to fly themselves there automatically.

This differs from many military drone aircraft, which are often remotely controlled by a pilot on the ground, sometimes on the other side of the world.

Eventually Google said it could use unmanned flying vehicles to deliver shopping items to consumers at home. That's a use that retail giant Amazon has already stated an interest in, with its proposed Prime Air service - the announcement of which generated headlines at the end of last year:

Amazon has asked the US Federal Aviation Administration for permission to conduct outdoor tests.

"The things we would do there are not unlike what is traditionally done in aerospace," said Mr Voss.

"It will be clear for us what level of redundancy we need in the controls and sensors, the computers that are onboard, and the motors, and how they are able to fail gracefully such that you don't have catastrophic problems occurring."

Other unusual vehicles have been investigated for humanitarian aid, including flying cars and hoverbikes, with the same aims of reaching cut-off areas quickly.

"We will have to see what kind of specific technology works best within the aid landscape, and if the new technology can integrate positively in the local context," said Lou Del Bello from news site SciDev.net, speaking about the category in general.

"It will need to demonstrate it can be cost effective, and respond to actual needs of local people."

U.S. judge sets hearing in Argentina bond case over Citi subpoena

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 02:31:00 +0000

A U.S. judge overseeing litigation by Argentina and creditors who did not participate in the country's past debt restructurings on Friday scheduled a hearing to assess whether Citigroup Inc (C.N) should be forced to comply with a subpoena.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa in New York scheduled a hearing for Sept. 10 at 2:30 p.m. EDT following a request by a lawyer for Elliott Management's NML Capital Ltd, a creditor suing over Argentine bonds that have been in default since 2002.

U.S. coal stocks could gain on Russia tension

noreply@blogger.com (Mcquarro) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 01:49:00 +0000

Beaten-down U.S. coal company stocks may receive a lift in coming weeks if deteriorating relations between Russia and the West push President Vladimir Putin to shut off Europe’s natural gas supply.

The crisis in eastern Ukraine has emboldened Europe and the United States to impose broad sanctions on Russia. But Europe finds itself in a precarious position, with almost a third of the natural gas the continent consumed in 2013 flowing from Russia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Europe’s heightened concerns about energy security could provide an opportunity for U.S. coal companies, which have been hurt by declining domestic consumption, to step in and fill the gap as winter approaches. More than half of U.S. coal exports already reach Europe.

"Export demand will certainly increase, with the situation in Russia and Ukraine having a big impact on Europe with respect to natural gas," said Ernie Cecilia, chief investment officer at Bryn Mawr Trust in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

"In the short term, there's no question that a rise in export demand will be helpful to coal stocks."

Yet significant headwinds at home would likely make any comeback in coal companies’ stocks short-lived and hard-fought.

Even as the broader stock market has rebounded from the lows seen during the financial crisis, coal stocks have languished.

Shares of Peabody Energy Corp (BTU.N), the biggest U.S. producer of coal, have declined more than 27 percent since March 9, 2009, when the S&P 500 hit its financial crisis nadir, closing at 676.53 points.

While the S&P has nearly tripled from that day, the Dow Jones U.S. Coal Index (.DJUSCL) has lost 7.7 percent in that time. The last three-plus years have been particularly bad for the coal index, which has lost nearly three-quarters of its value since April 2011.

The index includes just three stocks - Peabody, CONSOL Energy (CNX.N) and Alpha Natural Resources (ANR.N). CONSOL, which is more diversified and derives around a third of its revenue from natural gas, is the only one up on the year so far. It has gained 5.3 percent, but still lags the wider S&P 500 (.SPX), which is up more than 8 percent.

Peabody is down around 20 percent this year, and Alpha Natural has swooned 45 percent.

CONSOL is the only one of the three expected to show a profit in the next two years, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine, which tracks corporate profit estimates.

Competition with natural gas, the emergence of renewable energy technologies and new environmental regulations contributed to a fall in U.S. coal production in 2013 to the lowest levels since 1993, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Domestic coal consumption is slated to decline by 2.7 percent in 2015, as federal standards requiring power plants to reduce air pollution expedites a shuttering of coal power plants. U.S. coal consumption peaked in 2007 and has declined nearly 37 percent since then, EIA data shows.

That may temper any gains in coal stocks, both in scale and duration.

"I just don’t know if any of this – the situation in Russia and Ukraine – would be sufficient enough to overcome significant pressure in the domestic market," Cecilia said.

Energy stocks have overall remained favorable for investors, but not necessarily those with money in coal. The S&P 500 energy sector .SPNY is outperforming the wider index with a 9.3 percent gain so far in 2014.

"We look at the domestic energy landscape, and the abundant supply of natural gas has impacted coal dramatically," said Timothy Rooney, vice president of product management and research for Nationwide Funds.

"Generally, energy in the U.S. is a good long term investment, but that’s really being driven by oil and natural gas."